Pudge worth the risk

February 06, 2004|By ANDY SNEDDON NEWS-REVIEW SPORTS WRITER

Pudge worth the risk

EAST LANSING - Pudge is worth the risk.

That is straight from the mouth of Detroit Tigers president/CEO/general manager Dave Dombrowski, who held a one-hour question-and-answer session Wednesday at the Michigan Associated Press sports editors meeting at Michigan State University's Kellogg Center.

Dombrowski touched on virtually all things Tiger, and the talk invariably turned to Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez, who signed a 4-year, $40 million contract with Detroit on Monday. The team has an option for a fifth year.

Rodriguez, the best catcher of this generation, is a 10-time Gold Glove winner and led the Florida Marlins to the World Series title in October.

The 32-year-old has a history of back problems, yet has produced Hall-of-Fame caliber numbers in 13-year career, the first 12 with the Texas Rangers.

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"Is it a concern? Sure," Dombrowski said in response to a question about the length of Rodrguez's Tiger contract, his age, and the track record of catchers' production falling off sharply as they advance into their 30s. "That's why we took some of the steps we did with his contract.

"We felt, realistically, that all of the pluses far outweighed the negatives."

The contract includes injury clauses that would allow the Tigers to break it after two or three years if the catcher goes on the disabled list for five or more weeks.

Dombrowski, who is in his 26th year in Major League Baseball, ran the Florida Marlins from their birth in the early 1990s through 2001 - they won their first World Series in 1997 - and was the man responsible for laying the groundwork for the team's run to the world title last fall.

He said he is confident that Rodriguez will be productive throughout his career in Detroit. He said it's difficult to predict what may or may not occur health-wise for Rodriguez, but there are a lot of positives to signing him:

- Because the Tigers are in the American League, Rodriguez can be the designated hitter from time to time, saving the wear and tear on his body from catching, the most physically demanding position in baseball.

- Because of conditioning and advances in training methods, players today can be more durable than those in the past, Dombrowski said, pointing to Benito Santiago who is "catching on a regular basis" and who will be 39 next month. Santiago caught 106 games and hit .279 with 11 home runs and 56 RBI for San Francisco last season.

Rodriguez is the crown jewel in what could prove to be one of the best offseasons in Tiger history.

The team also acquired via free agency second baseman Fernando Vina, outfielder Rondell White, and pitcher Jason Johnson, and traded for shortstop Carlos Guillen. Guillen, Vina and White will start every day, and Johnson could be the opening day starter. Add Rodriguez to the mix, and one-half of the Tigers' lineup will be new when they open the season April 5 in Toronto. The club also added backup catcher Mike DiFelice and reliever Al Levine.

Each of those players is over age 30, and each is signed to a two-year contract, which is the way Dombrowski likes it.

"Unless you get a guy in the prime of his career and he's a perennial All-Star, I'd rather have him on a short-term contract," he said. "They (that group) play the game the right way, they play it hard, they're gamers."

The first among those signees was Vina, Dombrowski said, and that started the ball rolling.

"Once we got (Vina) to accept, then Rondell White was more eager to accept," he said.

The Tigers looked at adding other free agents - "I don't know that there was a free agent out there we didn't talk about," Dombrowski said, adding that pitcher Greg Maddux was certainly considered.

"Greg Maddux really expressed no desire to come here," he said.

Forgetting about Rodriguez and what his long-term impact and health may be, the group of newcomers serves to stabilize the club on the field, while young talent and arms are developed in the minor leagues.

"That's how the Oaklands and the Minnesotas have been successful," Dombrowski said, referring to teams in the same financial boat as the Tigers who have managed to make the postseason despite a vastly inferior payroll to baseball's heavyweights, such as the New York Yankees. "The one thing we cannot do … is in a medium market, we need to get performance for our pay. We have to have it."

In the recent past, the Tigers have taken a double whammy: Their free agent acquisitions have not performed, and they have been forced to rush youngsters to the parent club, usually with disastrous results. Add to that the 2000 trade for Juan Gonzalez that turned out to be a train wreck, and you get what happened in 2003: 43-119, the worst record in American League history and the second worst in Major League history.

Last year, the team had to bite the bullet, Dombrowski said.

"It didn't make any sense to have a last-place club with a rising payroll," he said.

Was '03 the bottom out year? Dombrowski and everybody involved with the organization - along with the fans - certainly hope so.